So what are the rules about write-in votes?

Write-in votes, or protest votes, will not be counted in most US states unless state election officials are notified about the name of the hopeful in advance, AP reports.

In 34 of the US states, write-in candidates must fill out paperwork before the election vote to ensure their votes are counted separately, the news agency adds.

“We encourage write-in candidates to notify us when they are going to run a write-in campaign because then we’ll notify the clerks to specifically count them,” explains Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin. “If people randomly choose to write in a name, it’ll be counted, but it could be counted as ‘other.’”

This would have been pretty difficult for Western lowland silverback gorilla Harambe, who became a worldwide meme after his death.